IRVINE, Calif., July 19, 2011 – EON Reality, the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider, today announced that the Foundation of Cardiac Surgery Development (FCSD) in Poland has selected EON Reality’s software for quick verification of new designs, robots and surgical instruments and creating a common language between engineers and physicians.

The Foundation of Cardiac Surgery Development was established in 1991 and its main goal has been to support the development of Polish cardiac surgery and to introduce clinical usage modern technologies for heart treatment, including introduction of the first Polish mechanical heart assist prosthesis. For this purpose, the FCSD consistently conducts research and development works related to the Polish artificial heart, biological heart valve, cardiac surgery robot and quite recently biotechnologies in heart prosthesis development.

FCSD has used Virtual Reality technology to create several training stations that help users to better understand the benefits of robotic surgery and how to use a robotic system during the surgery treatment.

The total Virtual Reality scene was completed with three separate robots, named Robin Heart (robot in the heart), a high-precision surgical device used in cardiac surgery. These can be manipulated realistically with all of their functionality; endoscope camera viewport displayed in a PIP technology (picture in picture), human model with basic organs which might be exchanged to ones from a patient CT or NMR; surgery room with a surgery table, lamps and all the basic equipment. Prepared virtual operation model and also a Robin Heart training system was created in EON Professional that fully supports real-time rendering with advanced graphic effects, contact between the objects, friction, gravity and mass properties.

FCSD is using virtual models: to verify the point of using an instrument inside the surgery area by comparing the size and the shape of the workspace; to plan and simulate the surgery treatment with step by step instructions; for a surgery room choreography optimizing the position of each robot arm for different procedures; to set the correct trocar ports between the patient ribs; to educate how to use an endoscope camera during the surgery procedure.

All of the virtual Robin Heart robots were connected to the native wireless controllers. By having a true joystick in your hands, users can manipulate and stand next to the robots that actually do not exist. Virtual copies of those robot prototypes are able to perform all of the movements and provide the same behavior. Possibility of interaction between all of the three robots and the surrounding virtual objects are great advanced training for young surgeons but it also gives them an opportunity to plan (or even practice) surgery procedures that have to be perform in the real world.

Presented model of Operating Room in Virtual Reality environment has been successfully used during annual Surgery Workshop in FCSD. This system is intuitive for a user and gives him a very realistic 3D impression.

“Nowadays we are witnessing tremendous progress in the field of virtual reality technologies. Users have an opportunity of experiencing virtual operating theaters and tools used during operations, together with their technical description. They have a chance of controlling a cardio-surgical robot, of getting acquainted with the construction and mode of operation of different surgical tools and medical devices,” said Zbigniew Nawrat, Deputy Research Director of Heart Prostheses Institute, FCSD. He continued: “But the most important quality of the Virtual Reality technology is its interactivity i.e. the possibility of involving participants in the space offered by the software and the inception of some physical features concerning the objects and the laws that govern their operation. It is possible to introduce ‘real’ objects into virtual space. The possibilities offered by virtual technologies are very promising in the field of education, especially in areas that concern objects that are practically inaccessible for testing due to ethical reasons (medicine) or physical considerations (space exploration). On the grounds of our experience, we claim that virtual reality technologies constitute an excellent communication language to be used by engineers and physicians in the process of designing new surgical tools (virtual operating theaters),” concluded Zbigniew Nawrat.

About Foundation for Cardiac Surgery Development

The Foundation for Cardiac Surgery Development was established in 1991. The Foundation’s objectives include the integration of latest life-saving methods and techniques into clinical practice wherever human heart is at risk; the promotion of cardiac surgery and related fields; and the support of activities focused on the protection and promotion of human health. The Foundation raises funding to conduct research and development projects focused on the Polish artificial heart, biological heart valve and surgical robots for cardiac operations in its own Heart Prostheses Laboratory that was set up in 1993. In addition, it helps provide co-financing for other research in the area of cardiac surgery. http://frk.pl/index.php?IdLang=1